A Week in Workouts

In the past I’ve shared what a week in my diet looks like a few times. This week I thought I’d share what a week in my workouts looks like.

Since this blog started my workout routine has changed a lot. I started out as a runner. This blog was started just after I ran my first ever 5k. Since then I’ve completed many 10ks and a couple of Half Marathons. These days my workout regime looks a lot different. I workout mostly to support my Roller Derby goals. I work a little on endurance, but mostly I do HIIT cardio, and my workouts are aimed at strength, explosiveness and agility and all that stuff. They also change throughout the year. Sometimes I’ll work more on cardio, others on strength, and others on explosive power, depending on what I need most at that time.

Right now, though, this is how my week looks. It’s a fairly typical week, though sometimes I shift things around depending on how tired I am. I might take Sunday as a rest day and then do more later in the week, heading to the gym on Monday and running on Tuesday, for instance.

Sunday

5 mile run with 2 1/2 mile walk breaks.

Today I am pretty knackered from yesterdays Roller Derby training and my legs are heavy as lead, but I have determined that I am going to up my distances whilst running again, so I head out with Mr Chick on his long run. My plan is to take a couple of walk breaks of around 1/2 a mile to enable me to cover more distance, having only run 5k’s for months.

I cover 5 miles in total, 4 of those run, with 2 walk breaks. I quite enjoyed the walk breaks as it felt like a chance to enjoy the scenery and be studiously ignored by the horses in the above picture. I was also quite pleased to discover at the end of the run that my running sections hadn’t actually been quite as slow as my heavy legs felt they were and they were actually under 10 minute miles. Which is still a pretty good pace for me.

Monday

Rest Day 

I do a short You Tube Yoga video focusing on hips and back.

Tuesday

Leg Day – Jumping and Explosive Power

This is my second week on a new workout program that focuses strongly on legs, building up explosive power and agility.

Today there are single and double leg line jumps, single and double leg box jumps, clean high-pulls, squats and calf raises that last week left me barely able to walk for days.

Although my legs feel like jelly at the end I was definitely able to walk easier than last week, this is a good thing!

I finish off with about 10 minutes of core work, and am in the gym for about an hour and a quarter.

The top in the picture was kindly sent to me by JD Williams from their ladies sportswear range. I have worn it almost constantly as it’s the perfect length and shape. They also sent me some Adidas tracksuit bottoms that I wear over my shorts to Roller Derby practice and then keep forgetting to take photos of, so you’ll just have to trust me.

Wednesday

Arms and HIIT

Wednesday is arms and HIIT day. This week I managed to get stuck under the bar doing bench press, which is always fun.

For some reason I’ve been stuck at 45kg for what feels like forever. I’ve reduced my sets, gone back down in weights and gone back up, but I keep getting stuck. I’m determined to crack it this time and each week I seem to be able to complete another set, building up to finally achieving 5 sets of 5. This week I was determined to add another rep, but I seemed to be feeling extra feeble. Still, I tried to push for that last rep, and realised quite quickly I wasn’t going to get it. For a second I thought I might make the bottom hook on the rack, but no. I had to lower it to my chest and do the roll of shame down to my hips and sit up. I’ll keep trying though!

I also do overhead press, upright rows and lat pull downs, and then I finish with 20 minutes of HIIT on the rowing machine, which makes me want to die.

The whole session takes about an hour.

Thursday

Roller Derby scrim

Thursday nights is Roller Derby. Scrim is like game practice, where we actually play Roller Derby. From 6:30-8pm I referreed for our B team scrim. Then 8-10pm is Norfolk Brawds scrim time.

It’s tough, and after scrim I try and chill my racing mind with a relaxing bath.

Friday

Leg Day – speed and agility

Today is focused on speed and agility. There are shuttle runs, including some lateral jump runs and skipping. Once that evil is over there are deadlifts and some super-sets that fry your legs including a lot of work on your glutes.

It then finishes with the rather interesting looking “walking backwards on an incline treadmill” which kills your quads and is excellent for co-ordination.

And oh look, there’s that top again!

This week I had a buddy at the gym as a Roller Derby friend has started to come with me. It’s quite nice to have some company!

Again, this session takes about an hour to an hour and a half.

Saturday

Roller Derby – Drills and Skills

To end the week, Saturdays is our long training session. We start with off skates strategy at 10:30am, then run from 11:30-2:30pm on skates.

I’m feeling a bit ill this week, so it was extra tough, but I still manage a big grin for the camera at the end. Though having said that, now I look at this more closely it does look a little like a grimace.

And that’s what an average week looks like for me these days!

At the moment I’m planning to keep this routine up till mid March for our first game of the season. I’ll then have a little reassess as to what I want to work on for the rest of the season when we have a game each month.

What does a week in workouts look like for you?